Mata: Win Was For Shaw

Juan Mata has dedicated Manchester United's 3-2 win at Southampton to Luke Shaw, who is set to miss the majority of this season after fracturing his leg in midweek.

Shaw had made an excellent start to the 2015/16 campaign and was no doubt looking forward to facing his former club, Southampton, prior to suffering such a terribly serious injury during the UEFA Champions League defeat against PSV Eindhoven at the Philips Stadion.

The 19-year-old subsequently watched Sunday's match on television, though he will have been pleased to see goals from Anthony Martial (2) and Mata clinch an invaluable victory for United on the south coast.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, Mata was quick to dedicate the result to his friend and team-mate: "We are very sorry for Luke," the Spaniard explained. "Obviously what happened to him was very unlucky but he knows we are all with him and this victory is for him."

United fell behind to Graziano Pelle's opener at St Mary's and Mata admitted the Reds were forced to up their performance level. "Southampton are a very difficult team which changes the situation because in the first 30 minutes we played badly," he said. "They were the better team and created even more chances to score more goals but with the first goal we changed that.

"In the second half we started to play well and Martial got his second goal. I scored the third goal for the team and from then we kept good possession and managed the game. Obviously in the Premier League you have to go to the last minute to get the points."

Mata scored what proved to be the winner midway through the second period, following up after Memphis Depay hit the post at the end of an excellent move that consisted of 44 passes.

“Memphis was a fantastic player for the team and we tried to keep the ball, and find the space to shoot on goal,” Juan added. “Luckily the ball came back to me, good finish and at that moment we played fantastic.”

When asked if it was one of the best team goals of the season, Mata replied: “I think so. It was a great move. The way we passed the ball was the way we want to play.”